Good morning, RVA! It's 63 °F, and you can expect another foggy morning followed by a cloudy day with highs in the upper 70s. Cooler weather moves in tomorrow, and we’ll get to remember what temperatures in the 60s feel like. Other than a small chance for rain Saturday morning, I think this weekend looks pretty nice!
Water cooler
Thank you to everyone who wrote in pointing me to this article in Richmond Magazine by Harry Kollatz Jr about the artist who designed the Greek-style columns currently marking Richmond’s city limits. I knew it existed! Y’all are so helpful, and almost everyone had a kind thing to say in addition to passing along the link. Thank you, again!
Jack Jacobs in Richmond BizSense reports that, this week, the Goochland Board of Supervisors rejected a small area plan that would have recommended some “mixed-use, commercial and residential development as well as road, pedestrian and recreational improvements for the area that sits just across the Goochland-Henrico line from Short Pump.” A while back I wrote about Goochland’s pending and important decision on how to plan for growth out that way, and, at the time, I said maybe they should just not and instead force development back into the already-sprawly parts of Henrico. That’s not exactly what’s happening here, and I’m nervous that, with the Board punting on making any decision at all, we’ll end up with unintentional sprawl—a big downgrade from what the small area plan recommended. I’m going to keep an eye on this, as three out of five Board members aren’t seeking reelection this November, and that new-look Board may have some stronger feelings about growth and development for the county moving forward.
David Ress at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has put together a two-part article on the history and future of tobacco farming in Virginia (part two drops on Monday). Even with Altria’s serious push into alternative, smokeless products, I just seems like the future of tobacco will continue to shrink. Honestly, I bet a majority of these farmers will switch to marijuana at some point in my lifetime.
This coming Sunday, Kul Wheels and the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation will host an e-bike expo at Dorey Park from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. I don’t think most folks get just how magical e-bikes feel—it’s not something you can explain with words, you just have to experience it for yourself (and it will almost certainly feel like flying). If you’re even the slightest bit e-bike-curious, I think you should head out there on Sunday and give a couple of these bikes a test ride.
Logistical note! As we all know, this coming Monday Virginia celebrates Yorktown Victory Day (also know as Columbus Day and, in other parts of the country, Indigenous Peoples’ Day). Looking at next week’s weather, I will probably use the time off to ride bikes, but you never know...that new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie did just start streaming on Paramount+. So many options! I’ll return to your inbox on Tuesday, and I hope you find the time to rest, relax, and get restored at some point between now and then.
This morning's longread
The Kids Who Snitched on Their Families Because DARE Told Them To
I definitely grew during prime DARE time, and Current Me would sure like to explain some things to Past Me, who took DARE instructors at their word. I blame DARE for the extremely warped and unhelpful view of substance use I had for most of my life—a view that I have to proactively work against even today.
The DARE curriculum suggested the DARE instructor was a trusted confidant who could be told when a student found drugs or knew of someone using drugs. The DARE curriculum emphasized the “Three R’s—’Recognize, Resist, and Report’ ”—as the primary lesson for students to take with them...Students were a quick study of DARE’s message. As one student wrote in their end-of-course DARE essay contest submission in 1994, “DARE means a lot to me. We practice as if we were in real situations. In this program we learn to give excuses and report if someone offers us drugs. We learned the three R’s. Recognize, Resist, and Report.” Students took the message and ran with it, not only reporting on those who offered them drugs, but also on family and friends who used drugs.
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Picture of the Day
Two fields of blue.
